1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clips that may be used, for example, for attaching a mounting panel, such as an instrumental panel, of an automobile to a cowl inner panel on the side of an automobile body.
2. Description of the Related Art
This kind of clip is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-151022. The clip disclosed in this publication includes a panel clip for attaching to an instrumental panel and a body clip for attaching to a side of a body. The body clip is inserted into a clamp portion of the panel clip and is then clamped by the clamp portion from opposite side, so that the body clip and the panel clip are coupled together. In order to prevent relative movement between the clips in the state of being coupled together, this publication proposes to adhere a non-woven fabric or the like onto a surface of the body clip.
According to the technique disclosed in the above publication, the clip requires two separate members including the panel clip and the body clip, which leads to increase in the manufacturing cost. In addition, in order to absorb unevenness in thickness on the side of the body and the coupling position of the panel clip and the body clip, a load required for inserting the body clip into the clamp portion of the panel clip is set to a higher value. This may increase a work burden in the operation for coupling the clips together. In the case that the non-woven fabric or the like is adhered to the surface of the body clip, the manufacturing cost may be further increased. In addition, if the non-woven fabric or the like is deteriorated, the intended movement preventing function is lowered and may lead to generation of abnormal noise.
As a countermeasure of the above problem, it may be considered to eliminate the body clip. In such a case, the clamp portion of the panel clip attached to the instrumental panel clamps the part of the body directly from opposite sides. With this mounting structure, it is difficult to ensure a stable mounting condition because resilient claws contacting with the body within the clamp portion of the panel clip and capable of being bent for absorbing the tolerance of the thickness of the body are in contact with the body by their leading ends having small contact areas. Therefore, if the position of the body changes in the forward and rearward directions of the automobile, it may be possible that the resilient claws cannot contact the body or the contact areas are decreased further. Decrease in the contact areas may cause rattling in the pivotal movement (prying movement) of the clip about the contact point with the body when vibrations or the like of the automobile occur.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a clip that is attachable to a mounting panel and can be joined in stable to a body-side member.